novelThose that were Rescued
| ← Ch.65 | Ch.67 → |
The young soldier lied down on a hard bed in the storehouse, wondering what he should do in the future.
(Today the lieutenant helped me, but I cannot rely on him forever. Something... Isn't there something to justify my actions? I was able to save 10 combat homunculi just in one day, and I want to continue helping those girls.
But... What can I do?)
While musing over his options, he heard a voice,
＜Captain, I brought supper. ＞
The youth jumped up from the bed with a start and looked at the iron bars, where he saw Katamimi on the other side.
「This is strange... Wasn't no one supposed to visit? In the first place, didn't the gendarme tell me, 「It wouldn't be a punishment if you ate dinner!」or something?」
And to that Katamimi responded quite matter-of-factly,
＜Captain, from working in the cafeteria to guarding the entrance of this storehouse, it's us homunculi who run everything.
When I went to the cafeteria, 「for some reason」one dinner for one was prepared. When I tried to enter the storehouse with said supper, 「for some reason」I didn't seem to be visible to the homunculi on guard duty.
As a result, I was able to come here with Captain's supper. ＞
Katamimi continued speaking while she handed him his meal,
＜In today's assignment, Captain helped several combat homunculi. For the military, these would not be accounted for. Since they were decommissioned homunculi whose disposals were scheduled, it does not matter how people try to use them.
Unfortunately, after reflecting on today's mission, I find it difficult to perform logistical support to a satisfactory degree with only 10 combat homunculi. If we somehow had a few more combat homunculi, I wonder if we could perform better at our assignment. ＞
Hearing Katamimi's words, the young soldier gained a streak of inspiration, 𝐟𝙧𝐞e𝔀e𝐛𝐧o𝚟𝑒l - 🅽🅽novel
「That's it!! If there are「a few more」combat homunculi, we can perform better on our mission! It's absolutely irrefutable!!
But I'm faced with a looming obstacle! It's difficult to get「legitimate」homunculi into my ranks! Nooooow~ what, just what shall I do..... Isn't this just a huuuuuge problem!?」
His lips turned into a grin,
「Ah, what a plight, what a plight. 」
He loudly said as he ate the supper Katamimi brought him.
Shortly after, he finished his meal and Katamimi collected his tableware. Katamimi placed the tableware on the plate and was ready to step outside, but the young soldier stopped her,
「By the way, what are those decommissioned homunculi doing now?
Can they still enter the stand-by room?」
Katamimi answered without looking back,
＜Currently, they are waiting in Captain's room.
Rest assured, I have told them to not touch Captain's personal belongings. ＞
While bending his neck to the mysterious airs of Katamimi, the young soldier began to make his bed in preparation for tomorrow's assignment. And as he slept, his face for a very happy expression,
?????
Next morning.
After breakfast, the young soldier moved from the storehouse to the depot where his homunculi squad was. His group replaced his superior's who was on night shift and he started his logistical support assignment.
At that point, he had 10 decommissioned combat homunculi in addition to the 10 regular ones he was originally assigned with.
「These girls had the body parts of other combat homunculi joined in, so maybe they can't move as well...」
He considered their previous injury, but his worries turned out to be unfounded.
They were originally the same mass produced design, so there was no rejection even if the body parts were replaced. Their skin color might jump around or their eyes might now be heterochromatic, but their performance was no different from regular combat homunculi. Rather, they gained their own unique appearances, which made it easier to distinguish them from other homunculi.
The 20 homunculi follow his instructions and quickly gather injured and dead combat homunculi in the depot. The young soldier did the same thing he did yesterday, but with two differences.
The first difference is inefficiency.
According to Katamimi's「advice」10 people were not enough to perform well in their logistical support mission.
With their numbers now doubled, he even had time to heal the homunculi who he couldn't have helped had it been yesterday.
The second difference is the reactions from the surroundings.
Once again, the veterans were watching the youth who instructed the homunculus soldiers at the depot with his mouth while he fired recovery spells with his hands.
Those veterans came to the same conclusion:
「You can't convince him no matter what you say to that idiot. 」
At least the veterans now thought that it would be a hassle to interfere since the youth did do his assignment without any issues.
Not just that, but as he had said, human soldiers were rarely injured or killed. It really was unusual for Katamimi's previous leader to die.
Because of those reasons, the veterans decided to let him be.
As a result, the young soldier could continue working without anyone obstructing him.
The twenty homunculi responded to the commands of the young soldier, so he succeeded in saving 15 combat homunculi in a single day. Now he had 35 homunculi under his command.
Substitutes came, so the young soldier made way and returned to the garrison. He joined a group of veterans en route. Each veteran had less than 20 homunculi.
He was now one of the top soldiers in the garrison in terms of the homunculi under his command.
?????
「I kinda expected this, but this really is troublesome...」
The young soldier looked around his room, scratching his head. There were a lot of combat homunculi there.
It wasn't surprising for a room filled thrice its expected occupancy of 10 homunculi and one human.
There was a reason why such a large room was prepared for a fresh recruit.
At present, the armed forces of each country operate on bulk purchases of combat homunculi from the Republic of the Sages, devaluing human resources. Therefore, conscripts returned to their hometowns, leaving behind armies of nothing but volunteers. Only a small group remained to man their country's many garrisons and facilities. Furthermore, combat homunculi do not need much space. All they need is a chair to sit on when replenishing their magic powers.
From these overlapping circumstances, the huge barracks were used by only a few human soldiers. Though it would be easy to fit a platoon in one room, buildings can easily degrade without use.
「It's a waste to destroy this huge barracks we built. 」
「Maybe it will be useful someday. 」
These ideas rolled around the upper echelons until it was decided that each soldier would have their own personal rooms. That was why he was given his own personal quarters, while in reality, his status did not befit him entertaining such a large room.
But now the extra space was meaningful. Even If you just had a small room for one person, you could pack as many as 25 homunculi in them.
For a room this large, you could pack many more combat homunculi if you planned for it, and you can further increase capacity if you used hammocks or bunk beds.
As the young soldier looked around his room that was getting cramped while thinking of potential ways to increase capacity, a homunculus soldier approached him,
＜Captain, are you shoulders stiff?＞
| ← Ch. 65 | Ch. 67 → |